


by any other name

by gothzabini (girl412)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Anxiety, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Recovery, References to Depression, amongst other things, mental health, snarky banter ( a little )
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 23:03:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14199573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girl412/pseuds/gothzabini
Summary: Albus doesn't really like his name, but he can't find fault with Scorpius's name. Some boys are literal constellations.





	by any other name

Albus Severus Potter doesn’t want to be named after the greatest men his father knows. Something about it seems a little off, anyway. Al knows that Aunt Hermione has a bone to pick with Dumbledore about something – he’s heard only hushed whispers about this, something that goes like “Voldemort was afraid of only one person, and they let him get away with terrifying us year after year. _Yes, Harry,_ I know he did a lot for you. But as the principal he had a duty to all of us – ” and when it comes to Snape, Al has to admit that he’s heard nightmarish stories from other people. Stories about death threats and racism and blood supremacy and Al’s favourite – for bullying children and making them genuinely scared of him.

His mum’s tried to explain it before, she’s said things like “Your dad was in a bad place when we had you, you lifted him out of his depression spiral, I’m sorry that it reflected in the name we gave you” but Albus isn’t sure he can understand. At the same time, how can he grudge them? It’s not like he deserves any better. Withdrawn, aggressive, sulky, moody boy that he is, he knows he’s nothing but trouble, not worth the oxygen he breathes. And the proof is in the trauma he’s inflicted on everyone he loves – his family of course, his godbrother, but more than anyone else, Scorpius.

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy is a grandiose name for a soft and gentle boy like Scorp, Al figures. Scorpius is kind and humble, the kind of person who’d save rescue puppies and volunteer at suicide hotlines. He’s full of unapologetic love and his mind’s too fast for anything to keep up, except maybe his mouth. Scorpius is a veteran when it comes to saying things before processing them himself. But unlike Al’s name, which with the weight of over-analysis leaves him bitter, Scorpius’s name is sweet. In an awfully Malfoy way, of course.

For starters, the constellation thing makes sense. Not just because Scorpius is good at Astronomy, but because he’s literally a human star. That’s a valid fact, by the way (source: Albus Severus Potter, 2022.) He’s bright in every way and Al can’t look away. And then there’s Hyperion, Titan of light if Albus remembers right. Scorpius is a beacon. Al tries to keep this in mind when he thinks about how nice it would be to embrace a shipwreck metaphor.

Because Scorpius deserves good things, the best things. And here he is now, watching his back, never truly safe from the jeers and cruel analysis of their classmates. Al can try to help, but there’s not much he can do – he has no Potter power or influence. People can’t understand a bitter Potter and an optimistic Malfoy. Albus hates it.

But the bullies are just the tip of the iceberg, and Albus knows he can’t blame himself for those.

No, the blame comes in when he thinks of the nightmares and the trauma, and Scorpius’s anxiety meds. He thinks of how he’d felt when Delphi had used the Cruciatus, of how he’d been so smitten with her right until then, how Scorp had suspected her from the start and he hadn’t listened. He’d let her get under the skin of his best friend. He’d fucked up so badly. Scorpius still woke up some nights and crawled into his bed. He’d apologize and say he didn’t mean to impose but he just needs to know that he’s in the right universe again. Albus hated the universe they were stuck in, but it was good enough for Scorpius, because it had him, and because they were friends.

The world comes crashing down on his shoulders in sixth year. Fifth year isn’t eventful, just their regular old friend mental illness and holding hands in corridors because Albus knew it calmed Scorpius, and well, it calmed him too. But sixth year. There’s a party that they don’t avoid, there’s firewhisky that they actually drink, there’s a smushing of mouths that they could call a kiss, except it’s nothing like a kiss. It feels like Scorpius is trying to devour him, eat him whole.

When they’re sober and hungover, Scorpius wants to apologize, but Albus stops him halfway.

“It’s not every day that I get snogged by a Scorpion King,” he says, and Scorpius relaxes, his tense muscles settling so that he doesn’t look afraid of attack anymore. “I just wanted to know, did you mean it? The kiss?”

“Yes,” Scorpius says, slotting their fingers together. “Yes and yes and yes.”

“Why?” Albus asks without thinking it through. “You could do so much better than me.”

“Nope,” Scorpius says, running his hands through Albus’s hair in that way he knows Albus hates. “The heart wants what it wants.”

“What does the heart want? Just a fucked-up boy with a horrible name?” Albus asks.

“We’re both fucked-up boys with horrible names,” Scorpius retorts calmly, and Al knows that he’s the only reason pristine and pure Scorpius Malfoy is using such language. This knowledge fills him with warmth.

“You’re not,” Al argues.

“Shush,” Scorpius says, taking Albus’s wrists in his hands. “It doesn’t matter. I want to be with you.”

Albus wonders if maybe Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy isn’t as smart as he gave him credit for.

“I’m a wreck.”

“Yes, that’s been established. So am I. The current question is, will you be _my_ wreck?” Scorpius raises an eyebrow in that patented Malfoy way.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Al warns. “You know me. I’m hopelessly self-absorbed, I have terrible fits of depression, and my favourite hobby is bitching about my dad.”

“Yeah, and I’m still here.” Scorpius smiles. “If you want to get rid of me, you’re gonna have to try harder than that.”

But Albus doesn’t want to get rid of him, not even a little, and he tells him so.

Nothing’s ever 100% perfect. They probably won’t get a fairy tale ending, but at least they’ll make it through it all together. 

 

~ * x 0 x * ~ 

Albus Severus Potter dislikes his name, but he can’t be bothered hating it. After all, behind it, there’s a person whom he knows is loved very dearly by someone with an equally ridiculous name. And maybe he’s hurt Scorpius in the past. He’s proved again and again why he didn’t sort Ravenclaw (not smart enough to recognise danger that was staring him in the face) or Hufflepuff (what kind of Puff hurts the people he loves?)

But none of that matters. This time, he’s willing to try.

They’re both just disasters, he knows, but it all boils down to how much he’s willing to sacrifice if it gets to that; to the depth of his love. And he’d do anything for Scorpius. That’s a fact. Albus Severus Potter would rather die than be a toxic boyfriend, and Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy knows it. 

Scorpius has seen him at his worst, at his most dangerous, at his most upset, and Scorpius stayed. Scorpius loves him though it. Albus knows this, even if he can’t fully understand it.

And well, maybe recovery isn’t linear, but he likes to believe that they’re headed there. That they’ll make it there, together. Just two boys in love with six names too heavy for them to hold, but that doesn’t have to hold them back. They’re going to fly like Seekers, like their fathers did, minus the enmity. They’re going to touch the sky.

It’s going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like this came out poetic somehow?? (fun fact: coding is a bitch.)  
> anyway if you have any feedback/suggestions feel free to let me know, and if you wanna talk to me I'm on tumblr @ gothzabini !! Thanks for reading, hope you liked it <3


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